Our Hero Academia: Chapter 32
Breaking Through the Trick Zenji's heart was pumping, he was so excited. His victory last round allowed him to get into the top 8 for the second year in row, but the only way to really tell if he had improved was beating Izanagi. He decided not to make any taunts, just smile as his classmate and former teammate. He didn't want to make any claims he couldn't back up. Izanagi gave a sad sigh as he walked into the arena. It wasn't that he didn't want to spar with his friend. He was upset that it was this kind of a venue. However he ignored his anxious thoughts and moved to the center of the arena and extended his hand. "Win or lose, do you wanna get some lunch after this? I'm starving." "Yeah sure," said Zenji. "Maybe we could play some Yugioh and get McDonald's." Zenji got into a combat stance. The signal to start went off. "I'll give you the first move." "Yeah that sounds good. I could absolutely go for a McChicken right about now..." Said the man as he stepped back. "You know. Everyone says that, "I'll give you the first move". But is that really the wisest choice given the situation?" As he spoke his quirk activated and ten perfect illusions of Izanagi appeared while the original became invisible. He didn't create such a large number to confuse his friend, but be cause he respected him. Izanagi knew it would take this many to actually give Zenji a good fight. Zenji made a fist. "I know, but I need to see what you're gonna do before I make a move. Amazing Impact!" He punched the ground, his arm shattering, but stones and dust being kicked up as the entire arena floor shattered, with where Zenji was standing being the epicenter. The would pass through Izanagi's clones, but stick to the real one, at least long enough for Zenji to catch sight of the real one and hit him with a devastating blow. His arm had already regenerated, although he had grit his teeth from the pain. Izanagi grit his teeth and heaved at the heavy guy punch. Both of his hands gripping Zenji's arm to keep him steady. "Well. I see your punches have gotten stronger." Jumping back Izanagi pointed a finger gun behind Zenji and fired before turning invisible once more. Simultaneously three illusions would take the originals place and started running at him, while the real one ran behind the regeneration hero and prepared a kick to the top of his head. Zenji knew that the three clones in front of him we’re likely fake, so he waited for the real Izanagi to make a move. His head jolted forward as Izanagi’s foot made contact with his body, but he recovered before Izanagi could pull his leg back. He grabbed onto it, lifting his classmate over his head as he aimed to slam him into the ground below. Izanagi grunted as he was thrown over Zenji's head. His mind raced with counter attacks before settling on it. Despite the strength Zenji did have, it wasn't super human and this throw wouldn't be strong enough to break a bone by itself. Using one of his hands he shot it out and caught himself on the ground, buckling only for a second in pain. He then brought his leg back and sent out a flurry of roundhouse kicks at his friend. Zenji‘s arms went up, blocking the kicks as they were thrown. Zenji smiled, knowing he was still dealing with the real Izanagi. He grabbed Izanagi’s leg, interrupting one of his attack, pulling him and aiming a punch to his nose. A growl escaped the illusionist's lips as his leg was caught by the attack. However he quickly smirked as he was pulled up, using the hand closest to Zenji's fist to push it away. He then turned slightly and threw an elbow strike towards his jawline. "Don't take me too lightly man." Zenji staggered back slightly, but immediately retaliated with an uppercut to Izanagi's jaw, aiming to attack before he could form another illusion or back away. Spitting out a small amount of blood as the wound to his jaw regenerated. "You're a bit stronger than I thought Izanagi." Izanagi didn't have time to dodged the uppercut, stumbling back and falling on his butt from the blow. With a grunt of pain and blood dripping from his lip, however he still gave Zenji a smirk. "Well. It would be unfair if I held back. My quirk doesn't exactly give me the ability to beat your regeneration, but I'm still going to give you one hell of a fight." Standing up he got into his fighting stance. He snapped with his right hand and suddenly heavy fog seemed to envelope the area, followed by him sprinting at Zenji with an illusion izanagi running a few paces in front of the real one. Zenji smirked as he saw Izanagi running towards him. He had seen this trick before. They had used it in the Calvary Battle. When the clone was in striking distance, Zenji stepped through it, aiming a punch, with more strength behind it this time, towards Izanagi's gut. He was hoping this one would send him flying out of the ring. Izanagi was in fact, ready for Zenji's counter strike. Once he had stepped through the illusion he side stepped to his left and threw a right kick above the punch and towards Zenji's chest. Zenji staggered backwards, but locked his leg against his chest with his free arm. Not wanting him to get away, he elbowed his leg, enough to bruise but not break, and slammed him onto the ground. A pained grunt escaped the illusionist's lips as he hit the ground again, his back starting to ache from the two drops, and groaned louder at the elbow to his leg. However with his position he was in line with Zenji:s leg. "Sorry bro, but at least you have Regeneration." He he spoked he threw a swift right punch at Zenji's knee, not hard enough to shatter it, but enough to fracture it. The punch would’ve fractured any ordinary person’s knee, but Zenji’s body was tough. He grunted from the pain, but retail Jared with a punch to Izanagi’s temple. “You’re really persistent bro. I hope we don’t hate each other after this.” Using his free arm he simultaneously pushed the punch out of the way and grabbed Zenji's elbow. He then pulled him closer and dug his leg leg into his stomach to throw him over his head. "Just think of this as payback for kicking my ass at Yu-Gi-Oh so much." Zenji rolled over, somersaulting back to his feet. Before Izanagi could get back up, he ran at him and aimed a kick to his stomach, hoping to punt him out of the ring. “When did you get so good at martial arts?” Izanagi growled as he saw the kick coming. He didn't have enough to get up and dodge. Instead he dug the side of his foot into the arena and used the arm that wasn't on the ground to shove himself up in a shrimping motion diagonally to dodge the kick then jumped up. "To be fair. You haven't asked." "Fair enough," said Zenji. He charged at Izanagi, pulling back his arm before bringing it down into the ground right in front of Izanagi. "Amazing Impact!" He created a shockwave of force, attempting to use the force to knock Izanagi out of the ring. Izanagi let his eyes widen as he felt the much stronger shockwave send him flying back. He tried to grip onto the stage to stop himself from falling off the stage. His struggle went on for a second before finally falling off of the side onto his ass. "Well shit." Zenji panted as his arm regenerated, a bit slower than last time. He'd make sure to eat plenty of food to ensure that he would be in peak condition before his next match. "No hard feelings right?" Zenji asked, somewhat afraid of Izanagi's answer.